The School Board discussed a proposal that would move 300 high school students from Bethel and 100 from Kecoughtan to Hampton and Phoebus. But administrators said the move would be an uncomfortable solution to a problem that will solve itself when a new high school opens. A new high school at Armistead Point is scheduled to be complete in 2015.

The rezoning discussion is part of a multimillion-dollar renovation plan for the city's schools.

Hampton plans to spend $284.5 million over the next 13 years for a broad swath of renovation and rebuilding of the area's aging schools.

But school administrators think transportation problems and controversy from residents aren't worth the temporary relief from crowded schools.

"I personally do not think this is a viable option," said Johnny Pauls, regional director of secondary education. Pauls also suggested that the overcrowding is not as bad as commonly believed.

The school has grown by about 135 students since 1996, while Kecoughtan has grown by 89 students.

Meanwhile, enrollment at Hampton and Phoebus has fallen. The population at all the city's high schools is expected to decline in the next five years by about 63 students, and further declines are projected.

But a complete rezoning would likely take more than four years.

Ninth-graders would be moved first, with more students rezoned in subsequent years. Then, just a few years after the rezoning is complete, the School Board would have to rezone again for the new high school.

"Do you do a year of investigation into a rezoning that lasts four years, and then do another rezoning?" said Lennie Routten, the School Board's chairman. "It might be self-defeating."

Other board members agreed that rezoning now might not be worth it.

"We're disrupting those families for minimal return," said board member Fred Brewer. "The general consensus of the board is that it probably would not offer the benefits we're looking for."

So students at Bethel and Kecoughtan will have to deal with crowded hallways until the city builds a new high school about 10 years from now, according to a construction plan supported by the board.

Brewer said he still hopes to build a high school sooner. "I'd like to move it a few years earlier, and perhaps the opportunity will present itself," he said. *